"I am not going to tell you again, Lyric's a hoe! Rumor is that she's only good for head and-" Shianne complains in Aaron's ear as he waits for the academy bus to pull up.
He missed the school bus waiting for Shianne after school because he didn't want her to walk home alone. She claimed that she was fine and that she lived in Brooklyn her whole life but he still wasn't comfortable with it. She was a pretty young girl and anything could happen to her if she was left alone.
"Shi, I get it. I get it. She's a hoe. Let it go, please." Aaron tells her as she scrunches up her face at him.
For the last 20 minutes, she kept telling him how nasty Lyric Williams was. If Aaron didn't know any better, he would think his best friend was jealous of the way Aaron even seemed to be interested in Lyric in the first place.
"I am just-" She started, only to be cut off by him finishing the sentence.
"Looking out for me. I know, I know. I'll see you later, bella ragazza." Aaron pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead as she wrapped her arms around his much taller frame.
"Stop talking to me in Italian, when you know that I don't know what the hell you're talking about." She spits out, letting him go and hop onto the bus that pulled up.
"That's the point, baby. I'll see you tomorrow." He responds, reaching into his pocket and paying the $2.50 for the bus across town. He took a seat in the back as the bus begins driving away, taking him to the other side of Brooklyn. He was the only passenger, which actually relaxed him. He didn't feel comfortable when he was around others here- everyone was always staring at the white boy, even though, they may not say nothing. He looked out the window, thinking about his whole situation.
He still wasn't quite sure how long he was supposed to be here for. But he knew he needed to come into something soon. More specifically, money. Without his parents, he had nothing and he was tired of wearing the clothes given to him by Miss LuLu or not wearing his favorite Versace cologne. He needed change, but wasn't sure how to get there.
His bus finally pulled to his stop and he hopped off, making his way to Miss LuLu's house down the street. But halfway there, he suddenly got the feeling that someone was following him, as he gripped the straps to his bag tighter and picked up his pace.
"Don't let me get shot or robbed in these streets, please." He thought to himself as he continued his walk.
"Hey! Wait a minute." Aaron heard a voice shout from behind him. He turned around, ready to make his peace when he made eye contact with Darien, Maurice and a couple of other boys lagging behind them.
"Have you come to jump me?" Aaron snarled without a thought, as Maurice deadpanned. He was tough and he wasn't about to let the white boy disrespect him. Again.
"I don't need my boys to whoop yo ass, cracker. Remember that." Maurice growled, pointing at Aaron's jaw. Exactly where he had punched him two weeks ago.
"Aye, Mo. Chill, we came to him for a reason," Darien warns, pushing Maurice back as he stares at Aaron. "I'm Darien, you Aaron, right?" He says, reaching his arm out for Aaron to shake. Aaron still had his eyes glued to Maurice but finally, stuck his hand out to Darien.
"Yeah, I'm Aaron. What's up?" He responds, turning his attention to Darien since he seemed to be the only one who was going to keep calm.
"Uh, I know we don't really talk and all, but I was hoping to ask you for a favor?" Darien answers, cracking his knuckles as he looked Aaron up and down.
"A favor? What for?" Aaron replied, his eyes darting back and forth from Darien's 5'11 frame and Maurice's 6'0 frame.
"Uh, well, me and Mo noticed you real nice with a computer and shit." Darien tries to explain as Aaron stares at him oddly.
"I know a little something."
"Well, our rivals... the god damn Scorpions bombed our gym last night. Chu heard?" Darien questions, as Aaron nods his head. It was then that Aaron took notice of Darien's light New Orleans accent. He was glad to hear that he wasn't the only one around without an Brooklyn accent.
"I heard you tell Maurice in lunch earlier." Aaron nods his head once again, as Darien scratches the back of his neck.
"Well..." Darien started to explain, before Maurice interrupted.
"Look, we wanna get em back. But we need someone whose nice with a computer," Maurice hopped back in, staring at Aaron with a scowl. "Someone like you, white boy."
"Someone like me?" Aaron raised his tone of voice, his eyebrows shooting up as he looked at the boys shaking his head.
"Yeah. So look, we happen to know the Scorpions got a shipment coming through they school in a few days," Darien speaks up, running a play by play to Aaron. "We wanna get there late that night to handle some business. And we need you to access the controls so we can take they shit with no hassle."
"Shipment? Controls?" Aaron sighed, as Darien rested a hand on his shoulder. "I don't follow."
"Look, we breaking in there and taking some of they shit, since they thought fucking up our school was a smart move. Too bad for them, we keep this shit to the streets. We just need you to do the computer stuff." Maurice explained, staring right into Aaron's dark brown eyes.
"What if we get caught?" Aaron exhaled again, as Darien dropped his arm and shared a glance with Maurice. They both smiled, before turning back to Aaron.
"The Cobra's don't ever get caught." Darien continued to smile, as he licked his dry lips quickly.
"Just think about it, white boy. We need an answer in the next 24 hours. We'll pay you and everything, just need to get the job done." Maurice spoke, before turning around and walking away. The other nameless boys following behind.
"Aye, look. Don't let Maurice get to you, Aaron. I swear, I got you if anything goes down. Which I doubt, but know you straight. Aight son?" Darien said, reaching his hand out again but this time for a dap. Aaron looked at Darien's hand nervously before attempting to do the handshake. Causing Darien to chuckle at his attempt.
"You'll learn it, eventually. I'll check you later." Darien said, before running off across the street and leaving Aaron by himself.
-
"I'm sorry, what?" Shianne's mouth fell to the floor, as Aaron nodded his head slowly. "Darien and Maurice asked you for a favor?"
"Darien and Maurice, both?" Cristal came with the follow up, gaining the same response.
"Si. They want me to break into some school with them and access the controls to something they called a shipment. For the Cobra's or something?" Aaron said, scratching his neck.
"You got asked to help with the Scorpion ship? Shit." Cristal spoke, sipping her drink as Aaron looked at her confused.
"What are the Cobra's and Scorpions? Are they not the same?" Aaron asked, biting down on his lip as he heard Shianne's voice from in front of him.
"No. Black Cobra's is a dangerous mob. They rob, they do home invasions, they fight, they ki-" Shianne started to explain, running a hand through her hair. "They're just a group of bad people and Scorpions are they enemies."
"And what does Maurice and Darien have to do with that?" Aaron furrowed his eyebrows as Cristal played with her food quietly.
"Maurice is the one of the top in the chain of commandments running them. Darien is his right hand man." Cristal added in, taking another sip of her drink.
"They don't look the type to do that. I mean, Maurice seems like bad news but just school bad news." Aaron spoke, as Cristal shook her head side to side.
"And they don't look like the type to sell whatever dope they can get they hands on either but they do." Cristal scoffed, rolling her eyes. Aaron looked to her, confused on her attitude when she was seeing Maurice, but remained silent.
"You're not thinking about doing the favor, are you?" Shianne whispered, staring into Aaron's mocha brown eyes.
"I don't know, baby. I don't know what I should do." Aaron sighed, calling Shianne by her nickname as she grabbed his hands sweetly.
"I don't think you should. I love Mo and D but they some bad peoples," She finished, shaking her head side to side. "They involved with the wrong people."
"Well, honestly, he has no choice," Cristal shrugged her shoulders as Shianne's jaw dropped. "Well, he doesn't. If I know Maurice, he already reported Aaron to his higher up. And if he doesn't do the favor, well, he'll have bigger problems than just Mo putting hands on him."
"Wait," Aaron jumped in, glancing back and forth from the two ladies. "They just asked for help. Didn't say it was a must."
"No," Cristal shook her head, making eye contact with Maurice across the busy cafeteria. "You do what they asked you. And you don't think twice about it."